


About Time

by dogstarblack



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 09:44:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11354898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogstarblack/pseuds/dogstarblack
Summary: “You sure you're ready?” Kent asked, looking up at Jack.“Kenny, I’m sure. You don't have to keep asking, okay? I want to do this with you,” Jack assured him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.“Okay,” Kent echoed, laying his head on Jack’s chest, his fingers lacing through Jack’s. “Almost doesn't feel real, you know? Like, we’ve had to hide for so long and we just--won’t have to anymore.”“It'll be good,” Jack said, squeezing Kent’s hand.“It'll be fucking amazing, that's what it'll be,” Kent said, his lips stretching into a grin.“You just had to one up me,” Jack teased.“Always.”





	About Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alwaysbuddy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysbuddy/gifts).



> The prompt for this was just Kent and Jack at family skate being affectionate and in love, but of course I had to be extra as hell and write over 3k about them because the prompt was so nice and gave me lots of ideas

Kent’s shoulder was fucked, enough so that he wasn't even allowed back at practice for two weeks. He decided that, if he couldn't even show up to _his team’s_ goddamn practices, he might as well fly out to Providence to surprise his boyfriend.

The only person from Providence he’d told ahead of time was Marty because he needed to get a ride from _someone._ Marty was with the Aces during Kent’s first two years, so he’d known Kent longer than he’d known Zimms, and was consequently the only one Kent trusted not to squeal.

He'd planned it all perfectly, and mentally patted himself on the back for it. Kent would get there two days before the Falcs’ family skate, he’d land in Providence at 7:00 a.m., get to Jack’s apartment a few minutes before the end of his morning run, and Swoops would feed Kit and play with her every day he was gone. The only downside--he’d be boarding his plane at 9:00 at night, and he’d have to find some way to sleep on the plane. 

The flight was beyond boring, and entirely too long, especially without his teammates there to make things interesting. He only slept three hours due to the shrieking child a few seats behind him. He couldn't believe he fucking forgot to put his earbuds in his bag, especially considering how often he had to fly. He’d at least remembered a book, so that was _something_ to keep him from flinging himself out of his window in boredom.

He was out of his seat the second he was safe to do so, and managed to be one of the first off the plane despite being seated in the middle of it. He stopped at the coffee shop nearest to the terminal he got off at so he didn't pass the fuck out before noon, and made his way towards baggage claim to meet Marty. He didn't need to bring any luggage considering how much of his shit was at Jack’s, but it was still the most convenient place to find each other. 

“Marty, man, I have never been happier to see you,” Kent said when he found Marty, pulling him in for a quick hug.

“Yeah, yeah, Parson,” Marty grumbled. “Still can't believe you convinced me to pick you up from the fucking airport this early.”

“I can,” Kent said, knowing he probably looked beyond smug. “You’re a huge fucking softie, and you couldn't resist doing something that would make me and Zimms happy.”

“Or maybe it's just because I know you won't talk to me about getting laid while you're here since I did you a favor,” Marty shot back.

“I never agreed to that,” Kent protested, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I _could_ still leave you here and make you catch a cab,” Marty warned.

“Fine.”

“Let’s go then,” Marty said, looking entirely too pleased with himself in Kent’s opinion.

Kent sighed but followed, trying not to look too much like he was pouting. He didn't put it past Marty to take pictures and use them as blackmail later. Kent was tired, jetlagged, and impatient to see his boyfriend. He felt he was entitled to be a bit pouty.

They spent the ride catching up, talking about Marty’s kids, about Kit, and Kent even managed to get Marty to let him talk about the Britney show he’d gone to a month earlier. They got to Jack’s apartment, as planned, a few minutes shy of when he’d be back from his run. It gave Kent just enough time to get up there and start making some coffee, because the cup he’d gotten at the airport wasn't _near_ enough caffeine to get him through the whole day.

“Thanks for the ride, man,” Kent said getting out of the car.

“No problem, Parse. Anything to get Jack to stop talking about how much he misses you,” Marty teased. “You’re sure you'll be good to come to family skate with your shoulder?”

“As long as nobody fuckin’ pushes me over I should be fine,” Kent assured him.

“Well, guess I'll see you then.” 

Kent nodded and shut the door, waving as Marty drove away. He walked through the doors of Jack’s building, making a beeline for the elevator. If Jack got back and saw Kent before he got to the apartment, the whole thing would be ruined.

He made it to the apartment without incident, digging through his backpack for his keys. Once he was in, he spent entirely too long debating with himself about whether he should turn on the lights and TV to make his presence known right away. In the end he decided that he probably should, because he was here to _surprise_ Jack, not give him a fucking heart attack by jumping out from behind the couch or something. 

He flipped the light switch and headed straight to the kitchen, putting on a pot of coffee and waiting (none too patiently) for it to finish brewing. It was still far from done when the front door opened, and Jack walked into the apartment.

“Hello?” he called out, obviously confused as to why his apartment was decidedly not the same as he'd left it.

Instead of responding, Kent all but ran to where Jack’s voice was coming from and wrapped him up in a hug. 

Jack froze for a split second before throwing his arms around Kent and burying his face in his neck.

“You didn't tell me you were coming,” Jack muttered, pressing a kiss to Kent’s neck.

“That's kinda the point of a surprise, babe,” Kent said, pulling back enough to properly look at Jack. “Didja miss me?”

“You know I did,” Jack said, pulling Kent in for a kiss. “Missed you so much.”

The kiss was far from their best, both of them smiling too much for it to even _be_ much of a kiss.

“I just figured that if I couldn't skate at _my_ team’s practice, might as well crash your team’s family skate,” Kent said, shrugging and playing it off as if he hadn't planned every minute of this.

“I’m guessing you're going to make it hell for whoever has to edit the footage?” Jack questioned, his smile never leaving.

“Babe, there won't be any usable footage of you besides maybe, like, a clip of the old guys’ kids tackling you,” Kent promised, pulling Jack in for another kiss.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Jack mumbled against Kent’s lips, only half joking.

Kent nodded and pulled away, looking back in the direction of the kitchen. “Think I'm gonna need that coffee,” he said, grabbing Jack’s ass before walking away and cackling at Jack’s surprised yelp. “Been wanting to do that since last time I saw you!”

Kent finished his coffee in record time, and if the two of them never quite made it out of the apartment that day, well it was nothing anyone could prove.

\--

The next day, they _did_ manage to leave, and decided to go out for lunch. Neither of them quite cared that since this was _Providence_ , it was guaranteed to draw attention that Kent Parson, captain of the Las Vegas Aces, had seemingly flown out to see Jack Zimmermann for no reason other than that he wanted to see him. They’d had to explain away much less simple things in the past. 

The restaurant was tiny, and wouldn't get crowded for at least another hour, which was perfect for them. They didn't have to be quite so ridiculously discreet about being in the same place, and they were able to talk with little fear of anyone listening in.

“I was thinking,” Jack started, halfway through their meal. Kent opened his mouth to make some dumbass joke about how dangerous that was, but quickly closed it again when he saw Jack was being serious. “What if I would be okay with the footage being used? Tomorrow, I mean. I've been thinking about it a lot, and think I’d be okay with people knowing. Tomorrow would be a good time, right? There wouldn’t be anyone there asking us questions about it, and if we change our minds, we can tell them before the footage goes up and it'd be fine.”

“Zimms, I--you know I would've come out when I was fucking sixteen if it wouldn’t have put you under a microscope too. If you're sure about this, I'm all in. Obviously I'll have to call my management, but they've already got plans A through Z for when I’m ready, so it shouldn't be a problem,” Kent rambled, a bright smile on his face. “Yeah, I'm--I’m good if you are.”

“I--I am actually. I'm nervous, but I'm not scared. We can get through it, right? No matter what happens,” Jack asked, just needing that extra bit of reassurance.

“After everything we've been through, I don't think anything can fuck this up,” Kent promised, wishing more than anything that they were back home so he could, at the very least, hold Jack’s hand right now.

They left shortly after, wanting to confirm all the details with their friends and management as soon as possible. Jack was on the phone with Georgia for much longer than Kent was with his team’s GM, Andy, because she’d had plenty of time to prepare for Kent coming out, and Georgia had apparently never been given any warning that coming out was something Jack would want. 

In the end though, they worked it all out, and got approval for their plan. They’d show up at the Falconer’s family skate and do everything they normally would. The only change would be that the cameras wouldn’t avoid showing Jack and Kent as a couple. It was the ideal way for them to do this. It was a place with no pressure, everyone that would be there already knew about their relationship, and the closest thing to an interrogation they’d get would be from the kids asking when he was bringing his cat.

By the time they’d smoothed out all the details, it was well past when they would normally have dinner, much too late to bother with cooking. They ordered a pizza, put on a TV show they both knew they'd end up paying no attention to, and sat curled into each other on the couch.

“You sure you're ready?” Kent asked, looking up at Jack. 

“Kenny, I’m sure. You don't have to keep asking, okay? I want to do this with you,” Jack assured him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

“Okay,” Kent echoed, laying his head on Jack’s chest, his fingers lacing through Jack’s. “Almost doesn't feel real, you know? Like, we’ve had to hide for so long and we just--won’t have to anymore.”

“It'll be good,” Jack said, squeezing Kent’s hand.

“It'll be fucking amazing, that's what it'll be,” Kent said, his lips stretching into a grin.

“You just had to one up me,” Jack teased.

“Always.”

\--

Kent was a ridiculous bundle of anxiety and excitement on the way to the rink, and Jack looked to be in a similar state.

“Honestly, why are we freaking out?” Kent asked eventually. “We don't even have to do anything. You just have to put up with me grabbing your ass and trying to make out with you in front of your team like you do every time we’re around each other. No big deal, right?”

“Right. Yeah. No big deal,” Jack agreed, his grip on the wheel loosening a bit.

“Thirdy will tell us to tone it down around the kids, Tater will forget all about my shoulder and ask me to drag him around in one of the sleds, everything is going to be normal. It'll all be fine,” Kent said, half for Jack and half for himself. “We've fucking got this.”

“I'm good if you are,” Jack said, glancing over at Kent.

“Babe, I’m golden,” Kent assured him, shooting him a grin.

They pulled up a few minutes later and stepped out of the car. Kent grabbed Jack’s hand and shrugged, as if to say _no point being discreet now._

Jack threaded his fingers through Kent’s and led him to the doors, giving him a small smile. It wasn't much, but it was all Kent needed to be completely sure that this was the right decision. He would spend the rest of his life with Jack, that much he was sure of, so why the hell should he hide that any longer? It would be fine. They would be perfectly fine. 

“Love you,” Kent said before Jack opened the door, and Jack turned to him with a soft little grin.

“Love you too, Kenny.”

And then he pushed open the doors.

It was almost disappointing, how anticlimactic it was. The people nearest the door greeted them when they noticed them, asking Kent about his shoulder and how long he was going to be in town, and that was that. It really was all completely normal.

Kent pulled Jack over to Thirdy and his wife by their still linked hands, pasting a smile onto his face to hide the last traces of nerves.

“Long time no see, old man,” Kent said, tucking himself under Jack’s arm.

“Not long enough,” Thirdy shot back, the grin on his face contradicting his words. 

“Good point. It was only--what, a few weeks ago that we kicked your asses?” Kent asked, face growing more smug when he heard Jack snort.

“Here's to hoping Tater breaks that shoulder of yours,” Thirdy said, raising his drink. 

“You love me, really. Always a pleasure seeing you,” Kent said to Thirdy’s wife, shooting her a wink. “Wish I could say the same for you, Thirdy.”

Thirdy laughed, shaking his head. “Control your boyfriend, Zimmermann.”

“Ah, sorry. Gave up on that years ago,” Jack informed him, shrugging.

“Damn. Let him go pester someone else then,” Thirdy said. “I’m sure Snowy would _love_ to see you.”

Kent barked out a laugh. Snowy was the only member of the Falconers who Kent hadn't won over, and honestly he just chalked it up to goalies being weird at this point. Although, it could have something to do with the fact that Kent had been the one to finally prove that Snowy wore eyeliner.

In the end, Kent didn't need to worry about whether he’d be dragged into stiff, awkward conversation with the goalie, because Georgia had already made her way over to them.

“I need you two for a minute,” she said, pointing to Jack and Kent. 

They nodded and followed her to an area without any other people, still practically attached at the hip. 

“You two are sure about this, right?” she asked, looking between them. “I just need to check again before they get a camera on you.”

“Completely sure,” Jack told her, and Kent nodded in agreement. 

“Well then, lay it on thick, boys. When me and my wife came out, it took four tries because people kept trying to tell us how great it was that we had such a close friendship,” she warned, shaking her head. “Basically just--Kent, do what you normally would. Jack, let him. With how he likes to act, I’m surprised you two aren't already out.”

“I can’t believe you just gave me permission to grab his ass on camera, but I can guarantee I will not let you down,” Kent assured her, giving a mock salute.

“Good,” she said, ignoring the first half of his statement and nodding. “And good luck.”

They nodded and thanked her, waiting for her to walk away before going over the plan they had. Even with casual things like this, Jack preferred to have a plan of sorts if he knew what they were doing would have any sort of impact on them.

As Georgia said, they would act like they always did around the people they were out to, and if anyone from the Falconers’ media team were asking the players questions, Jack would casually mention that he was here with his boyfriend. They wouldn’t make an ordeal of it, and everything would be fine.

They walked outside to the rink and Kent took a moment to mentally pat himself on the back for wearing a jacket before sitting on a bench to put on his skates, because Providence was _way fucking colder_ than Vegas, and it would have been hell on the ice without one. Once he and Jack were both wearing theirs, they tucked their shoes under the bench and stepped out onto the ice. They skated across the ice, hand in hand, to Tater, who had four children either dangling off of him or attempting to climb him, and looked absolutely _delighted_ to be a makeshift jungle gym.

“Kenny! Zimmboni! You two finally here!” he shouted, trying to find a way to hug them without dropping a kid. 

“Yeah, sorry sorry we took so long. We had to talk to George about something,” Jack explained.

He nodded in acknowledgment, plucking the kids off of him and setting them on the ice as if they weighed nothing. Once the last one was off of him, he grabbed Jack and Kent, giving them a tight enough hug that Kent was almost concerned that Thirdy’s wish would come true.

“Also, starting today, you guys can't use us as a way to get off camera,” Kent said. 

“Are you planning stop acting like Zimmboni’s boyfriend here?” Tater asked, eyebrows drawing together.

“Not a fucking chance. We’re just letting them record it now,” Kent informed him, slipping an arm around Jack’s waist.

“We’ve been dating since we were teenagers. I'm going to spend my life with him, and we’re both done with keeping it hidden,” Jack explained, and Kent felt his face heat up. 

He could remain unaffected on the outside through any amount of flirting, but when Jack talked about how much he cared about Kent, Kent was done for.

“You two are coming out?” Tater asked, face lighting up. “Am so happy for you!”

“Thanks man,” Kent said. “Georgia gave me permission to grab his ass, so that's a bonus.”

“She did not,” Jack said, bumping Kent’s hip with his own.

“She said to do what I always do, babe. What else could that mean?” 

“Kenny’s not wrong,” Tater agreed. “Grabs butt a lot.”

Jack gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head at the two of them, muttering something Kent couldn't quite make out.

“What was that? You love and cherish your perfect boyfriend?” Kent asked, batting his eyelashes up at Jack.

“My _ridiculous_ boyfriend, you mean?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at Kent.

“You still love me,” Kent stating, giving Jack a quick kiss. 

“Always,” Jack said matter-of-factly once he'd pulled away.

“How you two still like this after so long?” Alexei asked, shaking his head.

“No idea man,” Kent said, shrugging his shoulders. “We’re going to be the couple whose kids never want to be seen in public with them because they're so affectionate.”

“Make good parents, though,” Tater informed them, nodding.

“One day,” Jack agreed, kissing Kent’s temple. 

Everything went to plan, minus some forced conversation with Snowy while Jack was talking to one of the people with a camera. It wasn't much of a conversation, actually. Snowy asked how Vegas was, Kent asked if Snowy still wore eyeliner at games, and then they both went silent. 

Luckily, Jack wasn't gone too much longer, and he looked pleased with himself when he came back. Kent took that to mean Jack had told her Kent was his boyfriend, which Jack confirmed while they were getting something to drink a few minutes later.

For once, everything went according to plan, and when the video was released a week later, Kent watched it himself before checking the shitstorm it likely caused.

There were multiple clips in which he and Jack were holding hands, a few where Kent had kissed Jack, either on the cheek or the mouth, and one, he noted smugly, where he smacked Jack’s ass before skating over to Marty and his wife. About a minute in was when they played the clip where Jack was talking to the camera, and Kent turned the volume up on his phone, not wanting to miss any of it.

“It’s nice when I get to bring Kenny to these, you know? The team likes him a lot, and I think we both really like that we can be ourselves and not have to worry. I’m looking forward to being able to call him my boyfriend wherever we are,” Jack said, smiling fondly at where Kent was standing, a few feet out of frame.

“I’m glad you two will get that soon,” the woman holding the microphone told him.

“I am too.” 

After that, the video cut to a clip of Marty pulling his kids around on a sled, and Kent didn't think he could get the smile off his face if he tried.

He didn't bother reading any of the articles about the video, too happy to deal with the ridiculous heterosexuality of them. He did, though, text Jack to tell him he loved him, and replied to a few fans on Twitter who had sent him messages of support. 

He also watched, none too humbly, as he and Jack began trending on Twitter and Tumblr. They had definitely made the right choice.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tumblr @kitpurrson-official to yell with me about dumb hockey boys !!!


End file.
